Decision Report 201405525

Summary

Mrs C complained to us about the nursing care that her father (Mr A) received at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. We took independent advice on this complaint from a nursing adviser. We found that there had been some problems on the ward in relation to communication and drug administration. However, we found that the nursing care provided to Mr A had been reasonable overall, as were the arrangements made for his discharge. We did not uphold this aspect of the complaint.

Mrs C also complained that the board had not appropriately assessed her father for NHS continuing care (a package of care provided and solely funded by the NHS) when he had been discharged from hospital. She also considered that they had not dealt appropriately with her request for a review of the decision that her father was not entitled to NHS continuing care. We took independent advice on this aspect of the complaint from a medical adviser who is a consultant in acute medicine for older people and general medicine. We found that the initial assessment of Mr A for NHS continuing care and the subsequent reviews were all appropriate. Although some incorrect dates were used in the board's correspondence, and some of the documentation was not fully completed, we also found that the communication with the family had been reasonable overall. In view of this, we did not uphold this aspect of the complaint.